Forbes article on this issue:
Apr 17, 2018 @ 01:04 PM
Boeing Provided Pilots To Replace Avianca Pilots Who Were Fired For Striking, ALPA Says
Ted Reed , Contributor
Boeing sent a dozen 787 pilots to work for Colombia’s Avianca after the carrier fired about a hundred pilots who participated in a seven-week strike that ended in November, the Air Line Pilots Association said.
On Monday, one of the dozen pilots was fired because he refused to fly in place of fired strikers, according to sources familiar with the events.
The fired pilot worked for Boeing’s purchased service pilots group, which provides pilot training for buyers of Boeing aircraft. It does not normally provide pilots to provide scheduled service, the source said.
Boeing spokesman Charles Bickers said the dozen pilots are not Boeing employees, but rather work for a contractor that supplies pilots to Boeing.
"The pilots supporting Avianca are employees of a purchased services supplier, and we don’t discuss supplier personnel matters," Bickers said.
Starting in late March, the contract pilots were flying some of Avianca’s routes from Bogota to Barcelona, London and Madrid.
Boeing sent the pilots to Colombia despite a March 27th letter to CEO Dennis Muilenburg from Tim Canoll, president of the Air Line Pilots Association, asking that it reconsider its move.
“We understand that the Boeing Company has agreed to provide 12 Boeing 787 pilots to Avianca for a period of eight months,” Canoll wrote. “It appears this agreement would result in the replacement of the 12 qualified and experienced Colombian airline pilots who honored the union’s strike.